


Rise of a New Generation

by AnotherAnon



Series: New Tale of the Shepherd [1]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Gen, OC, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-07-29 21:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7699981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherAnon/pseuds/AnotherAnon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story that begins the ToZ universe stories in this Series occur in.  (Changed the original title because I haven't seen ToZ's anime and didn't mean to rip on it.)</p><p>The future Emperor of the Rolance Empire throws away his title and nobility to take up the mantle of the Shepherd.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Prince and the Shepherd

**Author's Note:**

> My written ToZ "world" takes place between the two cut scenes in the credits of the game. For lore purposes, the game trumps anime, manga, etc.
> 
> I mostly just wanted to be able to write fics that have a common "basis" for what constitutes "now."

Crown Prince Elias lay prostrate, as he had for several hours now, before the vessel of Pendrago's guardian seraph. "Though all may forget you, never shall I forget you!" he prayed from the bottom of his heart. "I beg you never forget your mercy to the people of Pendrago as I kneel before you to ask forgiveness of our wrongdoings, and the good we have failed to do. I ask this as the heir to the Rolance Empire." Elias made the prayers as he did at least once a week, and would converse with the guardian Seraphim, seeking guidance or sometimes just chatting.

His mother ridiculed him for this, and the Emperor ignored him for the most part, but Elias persisted. At the end of his prayers, he exited to the main part of the Shrinechurch and meditated upon the actions of the Seraphim and the Shepherd Sorey in securing the peace that had lasted almost a full century now. Elias wished he could meet the Seraphim, at least; he figured Sorey and his Squires had to be long-since dead by now. He shook his head and stood to leave. Such wishes were a waste of time and he had royal duties to attend.

***

"Tobias has been gone for a while now and the levels of malevolence have remained more static than we'd hoped," Lailah frowned overlooking the Medow of Triumph. "Sorey's doing all he can, but if the malevolance gets even a slight upper hand, there could be trouble. None of Tobias' Squires have the resonance to be a Shepherd, even if they weren't all quite old by human standards."

Mikleo paced idle, but at the suggestion of malevolence gaining the advantage his steps became noticeably more agitated. Edna watched him, but her face remained as that of a statue. Zaveid twirled his hat on a finger, "What we gotta do next is obvious, yeah?"

Lailah nodded, "Indeed, but where to find a human with that level of resonance..." She placed a fist on her heart as her voice trailed off; her eyes looked to nothing at all, concerned.

"Ask the guardian seraphim; maybe one of them has seen someone," Edna suggested flatly as if it was the no-duh suggestion.

"Little lady's got a good idea there," Zaveid nodded at Edna, ducking the umbrella she sent his way. How was he ducking when she was shorter than him to begin with? She was like a demon with that umbrella!

It was decided. Another Shepherd would have to be found; they couldn't wait for another one to happen to show up due to blind luck like Sorey and Tobias had. Sorey had been fortunate, in that his Squire had the resonance to be a Shepherd herself after he was sealed away, but that hadn't happened since.

***

For quite some time, the search proved fruitless. Humans with some minimal amount of resonance were increasing quite a bit, due to Sorey's actions, but "vaguely aware there might actually be a Seraphim in the sanctuary after all" wasn't enough. They had arrived to Pendrago, dejected, frustrated. They had visted Sergei's grave and that had brought back many fond memories, but now Lailah was cheeks-puffed pouting at the city's guardian Seraphim, "No one has the resonance? Really???!"

Edna tapped Lailah's shoulder with the umbrella and her face said "Calm down, please." Edna's face was still unmovable, and just as blankly she said, "You're hiding something from us. Someone."

"Why would I do that?" the guardian said, evasive. The seraph's face turned dejected when the door opened and Elias wandered in. He stopped, seeing so many Seraphim in one place!

Elias knelt down and bowed his head to the ground right then and there. "So many of you! Forgive me for intruding. I'm not worthy to meddle in the affairs of the Seraphim--" but his apologies were cut short by Mikleo.

"Wait, you can see us?!" he blurted out.

"Lord Seraphim, I can. I've been able to see the Seraphim for as long as I can remember. I don't think anyone else believes me, though."

Mikleo barked at the guardian, never taking his eyes off of Elias, "Who is this? Why didn't you tell us about him?"

Elias didn't allow the guardian to answer. "He was no doubt concerned for my position." Elias blushed, "You see, I'm next in line to be the Emperor of all Rolance, when my father either dies or passes along the rule to me." Elias stood and looked Mikleo in the eye, "Though I've questioned for a few years now whether or not that is the best way for me to serve the Rolance Empire." He straightened his shoulders with the practiced gestures of nobility. "To what does our gracious guardian owe the visit of so many?" His speech and mannerisms towards the Seraphim were so polite one would have thought they were the Emperor, instead.

Lailah ran up to Elias and grabbed his hands without asking, "Tell me, what do you know of the Shepherds???" What she saw of his heart was a level of purity she'd not seen since Sorey, though Elias was obviously world-wise. His face carried more of the seriousness she saw in Mikleo. As she held the hands of the prince, she felt wave after wave of sincerity from him.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat, "I have read the Celestial Record, and I know the stories of the gentle Shepherd Sorey. There is less known of Rose, let alone of the later Shepherd Tobias, but I do hear rumors from the Seraphim who chance through here. I know the most about Sorey, and I greatly admire everything he did, especially for the peace between Hyland and Rolance. I would give anything to meet the Seraphim who traveled with him, but since all accounts are written by humans, there is no mention of them." Edna and Zaveid rolled their eyes.

Lailah looked as excited as a child receiving birthday presents, "You are defensively worth getting to know, Prince Elias!" Elias attempted to prostrate himself once more, but Lailah pulled him back up, "No, if you are the one we need, you shouldn't grovel."

"He's the one who comes here every day to pray and honor the Seraphim," the guardian seraph offered. "I'd say he's done as much as he can to keep malevolence at bay here, short of becoming a Shepherd." Elias blushed as red as a tomato. His shows of humility were as genine as he himself was.

***

Over the next few weeks, Elias got to know the Seraphim better, and he they. He knew he was going to have to make a decision, and as he agonized, his prayers became less focused. One day, as he walked to the Shrinechurch, Elias heard a sound that didn't sound anywhere close to natural. He walked around the side of the building and there were the four Seraphim, trying in vain to stop a hellionized human from devouring his prey. It was too late, but they struggled all the same. The blood drained from Elias' face as he recognized who the hellion and his victim were: two of his instructors from the Shrinechurch. "Fathers!" he ran forward and tried to pull the hellion away from his meal. "You're supposed to be friends! What happened to you?" he cried out in sorrow.

The hellionized priest snickered darkly. "Foolish boy; your mother sensed something was wrong, so she came here this morning to upbraid us for telling you the legends of the Shepherds, and thanks to you, both of us just lost our jobs!"

"That's no excuse!" Elias cried. He took out his wooden practice sword and took a stance facing the hellion, "If you want to attack someone, attack me! I can actually fight back!" The look on his face was steel resolution.

The next thing Elias knew, time had frozen. Only he and Lailah still moved. She looked at him with a rare expression of seriousness. "Now is the time to decide, Prince Elias. If you want to purify this hellion and save him, you need my purifying power. Neither of us can save him alone." She held out a hand to him, "What is your decision, Elias?"

Elias felt like hours passed, though it was likely barely over a minute. He gulped, looked down, then looked in Lailah's eyes, and without any further hesitiation in his gestures or his eyes, Elias took her hand, "I will be your vessel. Your burdens are my burdens. Where you go, I shall go. Our fates will be intertwined until the last breath of life leaves me. I want every human to be able to experience the Seraphim, like in the legends of old, and sitting in a throne will only fulfil the dreams of others. That is their answer. This is mine." He felt that he had never been as convicted of anything before as he was in that moment.

Lailah recited the ritual to turn the Prince into the Shepherd and gave him her True Name. He raised his sword to the sky and called out "Fethmus Mioma!" as the Sacred Blade replaced his sword and time resumed once more.

The other three Seraphim gasped as they suddenly saw Elias armatized and realized what had happened, but they quickly regained their composure. The same could not be said of the hellion, though, and as Lailah's flaming sword in Elias' hands burned his flesh he howled, "Prince Elias! What have you done?!"

Elias stood and stared the hellion in the eye, fire in his eyes figuratively and literally. In a voice of determination, he said, "I am Elias no longer. I am not Elias, I am not the Prince of Pendrago or Rolance." He held the sword in front of him and, as he made his next attack, he grunted out, "From today onward, I am only Shepherd!" The attack was as firm as the words, and a purified human lay unconscious at Elias' feet. He barely registered it, however, as he immediately blacked out.

***

A week later, Elias, or Shepherd rather, awoke in the forest outside of Pendrago. "What in the world... My head," he groaned as he sat up. He startled as he saw the Seraphim around him. Then he remembered. "How long have I been asleep???" he stammered in a panic. His mother was going to KILL him! The fact that he was in his 20s hardly mattered to the Queen.

"It's been a week. Every Shepherd's struggled when they first take Lailah's power. It'd be the same if you contracted any Seraphim sub-lords besides us," Mikleo explained matter-of-factly. He had been reading the Celestial Record again, it looked like.

"You're awake!" Lailah clapped! She ran to hug Shepherd, but he immediately started running towards Pendrago.

"I need to check on Father! And there's something else I need to do," Elias said with characteristic conviction. He was running at a good pace, but he barely even seemed winded. Lailah was glad that Elias, no, Shepherd, seemed as physically capable as he was in terms of resonance.

Shepherd burst into the Shrinechurch and made his way to the guardian Seraphim as usual, but his worst fear was concerned. His mother was stomping all over this innermost sacred area, yelling as loudly as she pleased, "SERAPHIM! ELIAS! Someone here WILL answer me, or I'm not the Queen of the Rolance Empire!"

Seeing the area treated so irrelevantly pained Shepherd to his core. "Mother!" he interrupted her tirade, "Behaving in such a way in the presence of the Seraphim! Are you trying to invite hellions into the city??"

"ELIAS! THERE YOU ARE!" The Queen ran over to her son and, for just a moment, hugged him as would have any mother worried about her son. It didn't take too long, though, for her to shake him by his shoulders, "You've been missing for a week! Where have you been??! And while you're at it, why was Father Walker found passed out outside of here last week? Do you have anything to do with that, too?"

Shepherd replied dryly, "I'm not sure if you'll believe me if I tell you." He jumped just a teeny bit when Edna poked him in the back with her umbrella. He sighed, getting the gist of what the poke meant. "If you refused to believe that I can see and communicate with Seraphim, then I wouldn't have any hope of you believing me now." Shepherd took a large breath before continuing. "As I came here a little over a week ago, there were several Seraphim conversing with our town's guardian, and...I guess cutting to the chase, they were the Seraphim who go unnamed in the legend of Shepherd Sorey. Do you remember the legends my teachers here taught of him?"

His mother nodded, though her face was skeptical. Shepherd continued, "The Seraphim I saw were the Seraphim who aided Sorey on his journey. They--" Shepherd's throat dried out and closed in on itself, but he was going to get the words across if it killed him. "They were looking for a new Shepherd, as the land is still not purified of malevolence. The defeat of the Lord of Calamity prevented more from being generated, but Glenwood was already deeply infected by then. That's where Father Walker comes into it. He was corrupted, becoming a hellion, and killed Father Robert. We were able to purify him, but I passed out right there. The Seraphim carried me outside the city, since there wasn't any other option, and that's where I woke up this morning and came right here to look for the city guardian. The other matter...I have something else I have to do first."

Without allowing time for a reply, Shepherd stood up and began to walk out. His mother began to protest, but for now her son ignored her. Lailah pouted, "Aren't you being a bit rude to your mother?"

As soon as they were out of the Queen's hearing, Shepherd said to the group, "There's one more thing I have to do. She won't think I'm serious until I do it." Without waiting for a reply, he walked off. The Seraphim de-materialized into him, as Lailah had warned him they may do. The walk back to Pendrago that morning had been a crash-course in "Shepherdness," to put it mildly. There were four synchronized utterances of "Huh???" in his head when he stopped at his destination. A barber shop???

The man who was formerly Prince Elias walked in and said to the proprietor, "I am aware of the meaning and significance of my request. I want you to shave my head, except for the small amount at the base of my neck that remains after disinheriting myself."

The poor cutter of hair bowed deeply at his Prince, "Your Highness! I...I am not worthy to touch the Prince! Even if he tells me to throw away his bloodline by shaving him bald!"

Shepherd walked closer to the man and placed his hands on the poor guy's shoulders, "I am continuing the legacy of Sorey. What good is it for me to sit on a throne if the entire land is never freed from malevolence?" Sincere blue eyes seemed to stare into the man's soul. Eventually, he lowered his head in resignation and gesture to where Shepherd could sit.

Less than an hour later, all that remained of the luxurious long, black hair Shepherd had woken up with that morning was a braided ponytail. He paid the man for his time and made his way to the castle. Gossiping, pointing, whispers were already beginning. Arriving at the castle, Shepherd called out as would one who had no stature or renown. "I wish to speak to the Queen!" The guards should have ignored him and treated him as a commoner, but they had a healthy fear of the queen's wrath.

A few minutes later, the queen stormed out, her face red with fury. "ELIAS!!! What have you done?!" The former Prince didn't even flinch. He seemed to have naturally slide into the dignity of this office far quicker than he ever had done so as royalty.

"You and I both know what this gesture means, Mother, though if I wanted to be a perfectionist about it I should not even be calling you my mother anymore." The Seraphim materialized out of Shepherd's body, wanting him to feel some moral support in numbers.

Zaveid pulled his hat down to cover his eyes. "Wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now," he muttered. Everyone else was silent.

"So you're just going to throw away your birthright over STORIES? FABLES?" The Queen was hysterical.

"They are the truth, Mother, and far more true and enduring than my reign ever could have been. I've been searching in prayer for a long time now how to best serve the people of Rolance. As the Shepherd, I can serve Roland, Hyland, and those who don't feel themselves as part of either kingdom. Glenwood is more than our two monarchies, and I want to help all of them. I want to see a world where you can see the Seraphim as much as I can."

The Queen's face turned even darker, "Fine! Chase your childhood stories! See if your father or I care!" She turned on her heel and stormed off.

Shepherd let out a sigh, "That went better than I thought it would," and the Seraphim just looked stunned that he had expected worse!

Lailah cleared her throat to get his attention, "There is one more matter we have to deal with. A Shepherd works best with a Squire, another human that can interact with and be seen by other humans. We couldn't take you to the inn when you blacked out because there was no one to pay the innkeeper, or distract him from seeing your body floating in the air."

Mikleo added bluntly, "It's also helpful so you don't look like you're talking to yourself."

Shepherd nodded. "Understood. So...where do I find someone like that? I don't think there's enough resonance in anyone else in this town that you'd be able to smell a Seraphim if you lumped it all together."

Lailah clapped once, "We do what we were doing before! We were going to go to Marlind next, in Hyland, if we didn't find anyone here. We'll just go to Marlind with you instead!"

Shepherd started walking towards the exit from Pendrago without a word. The Seraphim exchanged glances before dwelling in their vessel. Shepherd's mind wandered here and there. Marlind, huh? He hoped that no one there would recognize the former Prince. What would he do if they did? Shepherd didn't know, but he wasn't going to worry about it. He'd deal with whatever came; that was the other promise he made to himself when he became a Shepherd.

His journey began now.


	2. The Squire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepherd finds his Squire, after Squire possibly hallucinates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helen's hard to write, but I hope I've done her justice.

"You killed everyone I care about, and so even though it's the oldest trope out there, your blood is forfeit!" Helen growled. She looked up; she could only exact her vengeance against this freak during the full moon, as it was impossible to find him otherwise. She charged at him with her bo staff, "NOW DIE!"

The man, unbeknownst to her a hellionized human with wolf-like features, dodged away as if he were not even taking the battle seriously. "Survival of the fittest," he said simply, "the strong over the weak. You surround yourself with weak people, they lose to their betters."

"I PROTECT those weak people, and avenge them when that's no longer an option!" she grunted. Helen tried to attack again, again with no success. She kept attacking, he kept taunting her. If he could kill her why didn't he??

The hellion replied as if hearing the thought. "I could kill you, of course, but I like making you suffer every full moon. When that starts to bore me, though, make no mistake: you WILL die." He grinned darkly, "After I've had some fun with you, maybe."

Helen scowled. She tried to remember when she'd last smiled. It had been several years, ever since she came home and found this man cannibalizing her family and friends, gathered for a surprise party for Helen's birthday. "I'd die first!" She thought she heard the words "Luzrov Rulay" from a distance. What kind of gibberish was that, and who else was out and about so late at night?

"At least we can both agree that you'll die--" this taunt was cut short as Helen squinted and saw a man clad in white armor fire a sapphire-colored arrow into the man's side, sending him flying.

"OI!" Helen barked, "That's my kill! Who th'hell're you?!" The accent of Helen's childhood started coming out due to her surprise.

"Most damsels in distress are grateful when the knight in white shining armor comes to save them, you know," Shepherd replied. It was late, he was tired, and his face and voice showed both.

"I didn' ask ya' to! And what th'hell is up with that getup? Like a drunk bard with no fashion sense, I swear..." Helen suddenly stood bolt-upright as she didn't JUST hear Shepherd say, "HEY!" but another voice, too. Why was that voice in her head??? Her question was forgotten, however, when she heard cackling from where her target had been flung.

"More meat, huh?" The man could tell from looking at Shepherd that this one was not ignorant of his true nature like Helen was.

"YOU! Focus on ME!" Helen charged at him again with her staff. Since her target was distracted, she actually connected, knocking him square in the back of the head. He landed on his stomach, and Helen was about to deal what could've been a killing blow to his skull when Shepherd was instantly at her side and held her arms firmly.

Shepherd placed a foot on the man's back and looked Helen in the eye, "Look down at him. What do you see? I mean really SEE." Shepherd knew there had to be some reason a hellion seemed focused on THIS human in particular, and he was genuinely impressed that a regular human could hold her own against a hellion like that, all by herself at that!

The woman looked at Shepherd with a look that indicated an obvious lack of trust, but since he had her arms, she sighed and looked down. What on Earth did he mean by "really SEE?" Helen focused her eyes, let them go out of focus, re-focused, and as she squinted she saw the man's features change from human to canine! "BWAAAAAA!!!!!" Helen freaked out and tried to break free, "What is that what is that what is THAT????? An' why aren' ya lettin' me kill 'im?!" She wasn't getting out of Shepherd's grip, though. Below his foot, the hellion snickered.

"Finally opened your eyes, did you? That'll make eating them all the sweeter!" He taunted. Renewing his strength, he threw Shepherd's weight off of him. "I'll just have to eat both of you!"

"I will purify you with the power of the Shepherd!" Shepherd retorted.

"LIKE HELL! This man killed e'eryone I ever loved, all those innocent people like they were nothin'! The only way this is ending is with one of us dead!" Helen knew almost nothing of Shepherds, and wouldn't have cared even if she had. Helen ran towards him to attack again when she froze in her tracks hearing another woman's voice. She looked everywhere. WHERE was that voice coming from?

Lailah had sensed some resonance in the woman and was glad when Shepherd had noticed the same. That he had done so as quickly as he had, and under pressure, spoke well of his skill as a Shepherd. "Ma'am, if he dies, he cannot be redeemed. I understand you're in pain, but whether he deserves life isn't your decision to make. Let us purify him, and we promise we will turn him in to the lawful authorities of the city."

"WHAT TH' HELL IS IN MY HEAD?!" Helen howled as she dropped her staff and fell to her knees, with her hands on her ears. She was practically vibrating.

Edna was getting irritated--this resembled Rose too much and Edna wasn't having that--so she just bopped Helen in the head with the umbrella. "Denying the nose on your face won't get rid of your sense of smell. Open your eyes before I poke them open myself." While this was going on, Shepherd and the hellion were trading blows. Helen blinked several times; when had the man's armor turned from blue accents to green?!

Helen looked over her shoulder and slowly, slowly, Edna came into focus, but it was translucent and etherial, two-dimensional. The words she heard came as if over a bad radio. Helen's attention was quickly distracted as she heard a final howl from the murderer of her family. He lay unconscious on the ground as the canine features disappeared. The man in the white and green armor flashed and suddenly was in all black, except for a tunic wore on top that was white with intricate black designs drawn on it.

The flash of green light solidified into a tall man, well-built and tan, shirtless but with white tattoo lines. Helen turned a bit red as her eyes fixated on the man, forcing her eyes to keep him in existence as he threatened to flicker in and out of her vision. Edna facepalmed as Lailah shook her head. The tall man picked up Helen's former opponent and asked the other man, "Where to, Shepherd?"

The other man replied, fatigued, "Wherever the guards would be in this town, Zaveid." He looked to Lailah, "Don't suppose you three remember?" He seemed to notice Helen after staring at her for about thirty seconds. "Oh, right; still have to deal with her."

Helen jumped to her feet, staff in hands, ready to fight again, "Deal with what? I'll BREAK you!"

"Like you broke that hellion?" Shepherd wasn't sure why he was being so snippy; something about this woman just rubbed him the wrong way. Helen growled and started to charge Shepherd when an ethereal staff entered her field of vision. For looking whispy, it was solid enough to stop her.

"We're tired, and you're probably tired, too. Can we all just go to the inn and you two can fight in the morning?" Mikleo figured if the woman stopped for his staff, she could probably hear him well enough.

"NOT MORE VOICES IN MY HEAD!" Helen raged. Her vengeance had been denied her, and that thought, it made her mind shut down in a self-defense mechanism.

Helen's eyes rolled backwards into her head, until just the whites showed. Her knees buckled and she would've collapsed to the ground of Mikleo hadn't dropped his staff and caught her. He carried Helen as if she was a child being carried to bed by her father. He looked down at the woman, noting dishwasher blond hair tied in a sloppy ponytail behind her head with what looked like a leather shoelace, of all things. Vivid green eyes lay behind the eyelids, and Helen seemed to be a more solid build than he'd realized on first glance. She was strong, no doubting that. Mikleo walked over to Shepherd with her and said, "Let's tie that one up and drop him off first. It would be better for all of us if you actually carried this woman into the inn; if I do it, it'll look like she's floating in mid-air. I've already had enough experience watching you humans try and bluff through that one."

"We have enough extra gald to put her up for one night, I guess," Shepherd shrugged. He only looked at the woman with passing disdain as the party made its way through the silent midnight streets of Marlind. That woman...

She'd seemed impulsive, brash, violent, and unwilling to listen to anything anyone told her. That was his first impression, anyway. At the same point in time, though, she obviously had some level of resonance, and wasn't that important as to why they'd come to Marlind to begin with? Shepherd didn't like that idea one bit, laying in bed at night later. The Seraphim dwelt in their vessel as he drifted to sleep. He was already out like a light when Mikleo returned from where Helen had been placed.

The next morning, Helen awoke confused. She realized her staff lay against the wall of her room, and she wasn't sure if that made things more or less confusing. Helen realized she was in Marlind's inn. She stumbled outside to order breakfast. She had enough gald to cover that, and she sighed in relief when she was told her room the night before had been paid. Inquiring as to who had been so generous, Helen blinked realizing that it had been the man who had denied her her vengeance! Speaking of the devil, he emerged from his room, into the dining area, looking ready to seize the day. He walked up to the man taking orders, "Some coffee, good sir!"

Helen rubbed her head again, "How's anyone that peppy that early?" She stumbled over and ordered the same, pretty much falling into the nearest chair. The man from the night before sat across from her. She looked at him with disgust. "You! You cost me the only thing I wanted, the only thing I was living for! Got a lotta nerve showin' me your mug again!" Helen hiss-whispered, to avoid being thrown out of the establishment before she'd eaten.

Shepherd wasn't even slightly concerned. "Yeah, well, vengeance is a poor thing to live for. It never lasts." He looked at the empty chair next to him and nodded.

"Oh right, you have the imaginary friend thing goin' on. Right. Real stable for a man your age."

Shepherd looked genuinely saddened, "You don't believe in the Seraphim, then?" Lailah had been insisting all morning as he got dressed that this woman could be a Squire, but Shepherd didn't see how, especially if she didn't believe.

Helen looked away with a guilty expression, grateful the drink arrived at just that instant. Caffeine. Yes. "I believe they exist, yeah, just ain't ever had a use for 'em, I guess. They leave me alone an' I leave them alone, know what I mean?"

"When you were in school, did you learn about them, or the Shepherds, at all?"

"Learned enough to think you're dressin' like that 'cause you're a fan of the Shepherds or whatever." Helen's eyeball scanned Shepherd top to bottom and back to top.

"So if I said I WAS the Shepherd..."

"I'd ask what you were spikin' your coffee with an' if I could 'ave some," Helen said, smirking at Shepherd.

Shepherd rolled his eyes then said to an empty chair, "You're lucky she won't allow herself to hear you, you know." He blinked at another empty chair, "Rose? Like from the legends of Sorey?"

"Your act's convincin', I'll give it that," Helen noted without any real emotion in her voice. She watched as the man across from her seemed to stare at a third empty chair for several moments. What just made him blush??

"Um, a Seraphim, uh, she wants to speak with you, so..." Shepherd sent a pleading look to Lailah, but she wouldn't budge. Shepherd muttered under his voice, "I need to hold your hand. If you'll allow it, that is." He hoped she would refuse.

"Won't even tell me your name an' you wanna hold my hand. Man, didn' your mother teach ya any manners with a lady of my caliber?" Helen liked being able to tease the man, apparently.

"I just go by Shepherd. I gave up my name when I took up this mantle. And you are?"

Helen stuck out a hand, "Helen. Family name don't matter anymore without my family, so just Helen'll do." Shepherd shook her hand and she was impressed by the power in his grip. She was confused, though, when he suddenly took a huge breath and closed his eyes.

That powerful grip was the only reason Helen didn't fall out of her chair when she heard CLEARLY voices that weren't in this room. "Can you hear me, Helen??? This worked with Alisha and Ruby..." The voice trailed off. Helen nodded furiously.

Lailah started to explain their business in Marlind, but Shepherd just could NOT hold his breath for that long! He took another large breath and Helen heard what sounded like the voice of a very young man, "Maybe we should just wait until her resonance catches up; I don't see how it helps us if Shepherd's hyperventilating."

Lailah's suggestion, to which Shepherd begrudgingly agreed, was to take Helen to the sacred tree, where Marlind's guardian seraph had his vessel. Helen took several steps away from Shepherd when he prostrated at the vessel, as was his custom. Helen just thought he was crazy. Even if Seraphim were real, she thought the reverence he showed was "a bit much." Still, Helen was as stubborn as Shepherd, and as she was increasingly aware of being watched by something she couldn't see, her frustration grew to be even larger than her stubbornness.

One night several weeks later, during which time Shepherd and his crew had gone Squire-hunting in Ladylake with the intention to come back and check on Helen's resonance (and interest) afterwards, Helen sat in the Sanctuary, frustrated. She knew what Shepherd and his compatriots wanted to do, she'd somewhat familiarized herself with the legends of the Shepherds, and, more to the point, she knew she had nothing else to do with her life except continuing to take odd jobs as hired muscle. Maybe it was time to move on. Helen stood and exited the Sanctuary; she knew what she wanted to do.

Helen knelt before the great tree and vowed that she wouldn't move from that spot until she saw its guardian seraph and understood. For seven days and seven nights, she knelt in her self-imposed vigil. It was almost time for the full-moon again, as soon as the sun set. Helen breathed deeply. She had neither ate nor drank during this time, and her body was starting to notice, but she remained. The moon was high in the sky when Helen felt the world lurch. Blue light and mist swirled around her as her body, mind, and spirit became "unstuck" in time and space.

Time spun backwards like a mad top, people walking backwards and rain and snow falling up, until it slowed to a stop. Scenery around her blurred until she stood on the peak of a mountain, Helen knew not where. A dragon thudded down in front of her as time and space seemed to settle again. Helen held up her staff defensively before hearing a voice call out "Wirukun Zavie" and, out of her peripheral field of vision, a white-armor-clad man burst out like a bullet. The man and those around him were as vaporous as smoke; only Helen and the dragon seemed to have true, three-dimensional form.

The dragon seemed to ignore the vapor forms and focus on Helen. She had no choice to defend herself, which was just fine to her since she'd always intended to "go down fighting." Still, Helen knew that she'd be lucky if she could just block and defend and hope this creature just eventually lost interest, like she would ever be that lucky. Her stamina would give out first--she knew that. She blocked, got strikes in when she could, and felt as if her body and mind and everything else within her were just at their breaking point, as the ethereal forms seemed to be unable to damage the creature in any way that it actually noticed. This was it, Helen understood. It had to be this strike. She wasn't even trying to avoid standing in the same place as the "ghosts" anymore.

Helen had felt some sort of "power" growing in her as she fought, and words came with the power. Martial and hidden artes Helen never knew before flowed into her very being. Now, she and the white-armor clad man stood in the same spot, having worn down the dragon as much as either ever thought they would. Helen heard a voice from before, saying, "Sorey! This is it! Finish it before Rose and the rest are burned out." Helen looked around, though, not seeing anyone else. Not for the first time, she wondered if this was a dream or if it was reality. Her burning muscles declared it was the latter, but she still couldn't shake off that this was just a hallucination.

Helen took a stance with the ethereal Sorey. They attacked in unison as Helen called out another arte flowing into her, "Jade Luminescence!" and Sorey invoked "Sylphystia!" Pink, white, blue, and green lights formed into a gigantic orb and hurled towards the dragon. What happened thereafter, though, Helen would never know. The light blinded her and, when sight returned, she was laying on her back at the base of the sacred tree.

The first orange streaks of sunrise were just reaching across the sky. The sight was beautiful. Helen closed her eyes for a moment, and when she re-opened them, a man in odd garb was looking down at her. Helen sat up QUICKLY. "GAH!!!!" she screamed, looking around. No one else was around; it was still too early.

A tiny cat-like creature peaked out from behind the man's legs. "She sees us?" The creature took dainty steps to Helen, examining her with curiosity.

"Wha-what ARE you?" Helen's eyes fixated on the small creature. She winced as her muscles seemed to think the dream had been real. Had it been?

"I'mma Normin!" the creature replied with pride as it stuck tiny hands on its nonexistent waist.

"And I am Rohan, the guardian of this village," Rohan put out a hand as he had seen humans do.

Helen took it, "Guardian...then you're...A SERAPHIM???" Her hands and arms flailed wildly, "SERAPHIM'RE REAL????? WHAT???" She quieted down, "I'm Helen."

Rohan looked behind her, "Shepherd, it's good to see you again. I trust you all are well?"

Shepherd waved, "Ladylake was a bust, but looks like coming back here was the right idea." He nodded at Helen.

Helen walked RIGHT UP into Mikleo's face, "We're you always here???" She could have poked his nose with her own, almost. Mikleo stepped back, embarrassed, and no one noticed but Edna was glaring daggers at Helen as she white-knuckle gripped her umbrella, opened despite the lack of sun. Edna huffed and turned her back to the others.

"You can see us!" Lailah clapped and hopped in place. Her enthusiasm was curbed when Helen's eyes locked on Zaveid again. He didn't say anything, but he was wearing the most evil grin in the world as he struck a pose with his hat. Lailah coughed to try and get Helen's attention. "AHEM!"

"I'm Mikleo, and my power is water artes," the water seraph introduced, "Lailah the fire seraph would like your attention. The one with the parasol is Edna, and she has power over the element of earth." Mikleo spoke a bit louder, "And THAT one is a wind seraphim, Zaveid."

Zaveid snickered as Lailah walked into Helen's field of vision, "Have you decided on what you will do?" she asked.

Helen smiled. It wasn't a smirk or the faux-smiles they'd seen out of her thus far. "I 'ave. I'd rather live for somethin' than die for nothin', and this is the first worthwhile 'somethin'' I've 'ad a chance to be involved with, in a long time. That's my answer."

Lailah smiled in return and looked to Shepherd, "And her True Name will be?"

Shepherd couldn't get over the idea of HELEN smiling, it seemed so out of sorts from when she looked like she wanted to kill him, that he couldn't let it go. Without further thought, he blurted out "Melphis Hel." It was only later that night that he would realize he'd "borrowed" from Sorey's first Squire, and only the Seraphim could laugh at how different the two Squires were.

Lailah performed the ritual and Helen felt seraphic artes flow through her. The area around them was still devoid of others--it was still far too early--so Lailah said, "I would like you to practice at least one armatization now, so you're not struggling to learn it during battle. That is, if you have enough power to do it. You may not have that yet, or ever."

Helen only knew one True Name, from her vision or dream or whatever it was, but she figured that was as good of a point to start as any. She took a deep breath, "Wirukun Zavie!" A green light emitted from Zaveid and a pink light from Helen, the lights started towards each other, but they stopped short of connecting, so nothing happened. She let out a dejected sigh.

Shepherd was rarely one for physical contact, but he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Give it time. Few Shepherds even, very few, can armatize that quickly. Be patient." He smiled warmly. He'd vowed on the way back to Marlind that he would give Helen a chance. It was his only shot, yes, but he also didn't want to be antagonistic. It wasn't who he was or who he wanted to be.

Helen looked up and smiled weakly, "I'll try not to be too much of a burden to ya' 'til then." Then she rolled her shoulders, pushing off Shepherd's hand, and spun her arms in a windmill like motion behind her before picking up her bo staff and twirling it over her head, "So now what?"

"Your attacks are slow," Zaveid noted bluntly. "I'd say we find some smaller-fry hellions to cut your teeth on before you get hurt." Shepherd nodded his agreement.

Helen grinned wide as she hung her staff over her back on its leather strap. "Let's go! Can' live an answer if I don' start walking, yeah? An' I need t'pick your brains 'bout somethin' I saw while meditatin'."

Helen began walking. She accepted this fate, and vowed to follow it until she could walk no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone IS curious about what her "dream" was, I figured magical-hand-waving taught mystic artes to Alisha and Rose, so... The idea here was that somehow Helen's "in" or "with" Rose in some way during that in-game battle, and it's like a copy is formed of "Squire arte data" or whatever. Helen also thinks best when fighting, which is why she's so certain when it's all over. (That trait comes out more later.)


	3. Chapter 3 placeholder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where my "Edna x Mikleo" story fits in the timeline, but I can't add it to the series after the fact, and I don't want to create a new work for a placeholder, so this is that.

See https://archiveofourown.org/works/7568806 and I apologize for the inconvenience. Ao3 doesn't allow some reorganization that I wish it would.


End file.
